This is one of two papers in Diabetes Care reporting on findings of the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study, which was designed to examine the associations of increasing degrees of untreated maternal glycaemia, less severe than overt diabetes, with adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.
The other analysis (n=4160 children) reported that for mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), 10.6% children had impaired glucose tolerance vs. 5.0% of children of mothers without GDM (OR 1.96; 95% CI, 1.41–2.73); frequency of impaired fasting glucose was 9.2% and 7.4%, respectively.
An editorial notes that these studies indicate strong continuous associations between maternal glycaemia in pregnancy and long-term effects on offspring glycaemia, insulin sensitivity, and β-cell function. It notes that the studies found effects on offspring risk of impaired glucose tolerance and in some analyses impaired fasting glucose but did not show a significant increase in risk of type 2 diabetes with increasing maternal hyperglycemia. However, type 2 diabetes is rare in children, and the study was likely underpowered to look at this outcome.